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New (fast!) drain for kitchen sink: awesome!

bvddobb

bvddobb

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One annoyance for Cali-owners - certainly for us - has been the kitchen sink drain. It drains the sink so t e r r i b l y s l o w .... On various fora one can find suggestions to increase the draining speed. Some simply shorten the hose, cutting out the S-turn, but then you remove the smell stopper. Some add an extra vent hose between the sink and the S-turn, but that only helps a little, it seems.

Now, recently we stumbled onto the Youtube video below, showing a California sink that drains very fast:


We immediately thought: WE WANT THAT! I looked up the poster of the video on the net, and it turns out he had started a complete topic on the German Cali-board about it. To cut a long story short: VW changed the sieve and siphon they use in the Cali somewhere in 2013 for a much larger bore version, with the siphon doubling as smell stopper, thus eliminating the need for an S-turn in the hose to the waste water tank. All that making for a much faster draining of the sink.

So, we decided to give it a try, and ordered the new set:
  • 7E7 068 159: sieve, €7,56
  • 7E7 068 167: siphon, €5,61
  • 7E7 068 177 A: rubber ring, € 1,83

Fitting them is fairly easy. Since sieve and siphon have a larger bore, we needed to widen the hole in the sink. It took me some 15 minutes of careful filing, often stopping to try the fit.

See the old situation below:

IMG_0799.JPG

And here the new situation:

IMG_0801.JPG

You can clearly see that the siphon is much larger, thus letting water through more easily. The hose is much shorter, going directly to the waste water tank. When shortening the hose, be careful: don't make it too short, or your kitchen drawer may no longer close...

Speaking of the kitchen drawer, we needed to make one more adjustment. Because the siphon is somewhat lower, our drawer wouldn't pass beneath it anymore. We didn't want to lower the complete drawer, because of what we store beneath it currently. So we simply removed a little piece of the back of the drawer, a good centimeter only, just until the built in reinforcement in the back. It is only plastic, so this was easily done with a little peeling knife from the very same drawer!

IMG_0802.JPG

So, we went away for a long weekend this last weekend, and boy did our sink drain fast! :clap
 
Last edited:
Great useful info job thanks I will look at sorting mine :thumb
 
Hi Bart & Marga

Can you let me know where I can order these parts or is it only through the German website?

regards

Paul
 
They are genuine VW parts and part numbers, we ordered them through our local dealer.
 
Great find :thumb

These sinks drain so slowly that at first you think they are blocked!
 
Just wondering why the waste flow hasn't been updated on the newer models( i.e.my 2013 model ) seeing as V.W.have the parts in place to rectify the problem :!:
 
Just ordered those parts from UK dealer for total cost of £8.93 inc vat.....pick up tomorrow..............

Fit this weekend
 
If I do this myself, I presume it will invalidate some part of the warranty. If VW do it, will the original warranty be maintained? If so how long would it take in terms of labour costs?

Andy


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It cost me some 30 minutes. But I am an amateur mechanic...
 
Alan said:
Just wondering why the waste flow hasn't been updated on the newer models( i.e.my 2013 model ) seeing as V.W.have the parts in place to rectify the problem :!:
According to the German forum, this new drain system is used from model year 2014 onwards, so in my understanding roughly in Calis built since Sept 2013.
 
slowcoach65 said:
If I do this myself, I presume it will invalidate some part of the warranty. If VW do it, will the original warranty be maintained? If so how long would it take in terms of labour costs?

Andy


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

I'm wondering if SMG would supply the parts for this conversion.
Off course I could phone parts department direct but thought doing it on here may help other members that's wondering the same question.
Maybe as You say Andy, it may be a warranty issue

Alex ? :help
 
Just fitted the new fast drain to my van this morning, only takes minutes to fit, unlike bart i never had to file the sink hole any larger, so suppose maybe certain vans have a larger sink hole bore from new which then you would not need to order the sieve part because the existing one still fits or order the sieve have have a nice shiny new one and a spare plug.
Still had to take away a 10mm slice from the back of the drawer to clear the siphon, another option would be to drill the pop rivets out from the drawer runners and move them down 10mm there is enough room on the support bracket to do this but why bother.
Water drains away now, how cool is that, we can now all start using the sink. :clap
 
VW have obviously found the sink draining to be a problem to come up with a solution :crazy

Does this mean that owners that still have warranty on their vehicle can claim for this upgrade work to be done FOC by VW main dealers ;)
 
yanathem said:
Just fitted the new fast drain to my van this morning, only takes minutes to fit, unlike bart i never had to file the sink hole any larger, so suppose maybe certain vans have a larger sink hole bore from new which then you would not need to order the sieve part because the existing one still fits or order the sieve have have a nice shiny new one and a spare plug.
Still had to take away a 10mm slice from the back of the drawer to clear the siphon, another option would be to drill the pop rivets out from the drawer runners and move them down 10mm there is enough room on the support bracket to do this but why bother.
Water drains away now, how cool is that, we can now all start using the sink. :clap

Did you shorten the drain pipe or not bother? If it makes little difference, I might be tempted not to.

Andy
 
I shortened the hose, I tried it as it was but thought was still a bit slow especially when you watch the video above, I can now hear the waste water falling in to the waste tank now. :thumb
 
Tried to get the parts ordered at our local VW dealer but they show as being on back-order and I was told this could mean waiting months! Anyone know where I can get them in the UK?

Andy
 
I was told the same thing but still came next day??? This was last Friday.
Ordered through tps rather than main dealer if that makes any difference.
 
We had the same thing at our dealer, and still the kit arrived the next day!
 
Of course I could not resist to go for it.
Pieces arrived within 3 days, here in France.
Did the modification this morning.
Easy job. Took me 1 hour and a half.
Thank you very much Bart & Marga. Probably one of the most useful tip on the forum.
Best regards
Andrzej
 
I ordered mine from Breeze in Poole.

All bar one part was in the UK and came the next day and one part came over from Germany. I got a text a week later to collect it all and fitted it on Friday last week. No filing, all very easy, including trimming the drawer to clear the siphon. And we now have a sink plug again too!

Alan
 
I'm intrigued. When I got the parts and fitted them I didn't need to trim the sink or the drawer - it all fitted perfectly ;)

Andy
 
slowcoach65 said:
I'm intrigued. When I got the parts and fitted them I didn't need to trim the sink or the drawer - it all fitted perfectly ;)
I've since understood that from model year 2010 onwards, the sinks are a different make, with an already larger opening. From model year 2014 onwards the new siphon is fitted. Somewhere along that line VW started to lower the drawer hinges somewhat already.
So, when your Cali is from model year 2010 or later, no filing/widening needed!
 
bvddobb said:
slowcoach65 said:
I'm intrigued. When I got the parts and fitted them I didn't need to trim the sink or the drawer - it all fitted perfectly ;)
I've since understood that from model year 2010 onwards, the sinks are a different make, with an already larger opening. From model year 2014 onwards the new siphon is fitted. Somewhere along that line VW started to lower the drawer hinges somewhat already.
So, when your Cali is from model year 2010 or later, no filing/widening needed!

Right. I had to enlarge the hole and trim the drawer in mine 2007.
 
Just done this on my 2011 Cali. Best money I've spent on it so far, along with the monster matts.
No cutting (except for the hose) or filing, all just fitted in. Drawer works without hitting on it.

Thanks for the heads up Bart !!
 
Can SMG supply the parts?

rob
 
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